If you are feeling like organic gardening is an overwhelming subject, then you are in the right place. When thinking about how to go about growing your garden, just remember that the more knowledge you have, the easier it should go when you’re forming strategies and implementing those strategies towards your gardening endeavors.

Reduce the need for pesticides in your garden by planting native crops. Native plants will have a better resistance against the bugs and bacteria of your area, and will be better equipped to compete with native weeds. Native plants will attract beneficial native insects, such as ladybugs, which can naturally control pest problems without the need for chemicals.

Making your own compost for organic gardening is extremely simple and easy to do. It provides soil of gardens with rich nutrients and keeps soil cool during summer months. You can use kitchen waste, sawdust, aquarium water, coffee grounds, tea leaves, rabbit or hamster droppings, a thin layer of lawn clippings, spices and eggshells in your compost.

You should keep your seeds damp without drowning them in water. Spray water over the soil to keep it moist, and place the pots or trays in which you have your seeds in water so that the soil can absorb the water. Make sure you replace the water in which your pots are standing regularly.

Make sure your seeds have enough room to grow. It is fine to have many seeds in one container before they sprout, but you will have to replant them as they grow. Use containers that are actually big enough for one plant, and avoid having more than one plant in each container.

Use about two to three inches of organic material as mulch in all of your flower beds. This is a simple method of discouraging weeds, retaining moisture, and adding excellent nutrients into the garden. You will also have a gorgeous and finished organic flower bed.

To conserve water when you’re gardening, be sure to use three inches of organic mulch. The mulch will help your plants to absorb the water slowly over time, allowing you to use less water than you normally would. Many natural materials make great mulch, including pine needles and many types of leaves.

Take steps to protect earthworms in your organic garden. Till your soil minimally, as tilling can kill earthworms. The best tilling depth is 3 to 5 inches. Avoid using chemical fertilizers because they harm the micro-organisms in the soil, decreasing earthworm activity. Be sure that the soil never dries out too much, but at the same time avoid over-watering. By maintaining these soil conditions, you will notice your earthworm population increasing rapidly!

A great tip when starting your own organic garden is to sprinkle milled sphagnum moss on your seeds in order to prevent damping-off. Damping-off is a fungal disease that will cause your seeds and seedlings to rot. If your seeds need light, you should sprinkle this moss before dropping your seeds in the moss.

In order to offer your organic gardening the most success, mulch it with 3 inches of organic material. By mulching your organic garden you will conserve water, add nutrients to the soil and stop weeds from growing. As an added bonus, mulching also gives your organic garden a bit of beauty.

To insulate the soil and protect against weeds, you should consider different types of mulches. Use things like wood chips, leaves, hay, and lawn clippings. Protecting plants with a mulch helps them in many ways, such as guarding soil against erosion. You can even look into living mulches, which are plants that serve the same purpose as a mulch.

To rid your organic garden of bugs, try using a mixture of dish soap and water. Mix 2 tablespoons of dish soap into a gallon of water. Use a spray bottle to spray the foliage and soil around the plants. Before spraying your whole garden or even a whole plant, test the effect of the mixture on a few leaves and wait a few days before doing the rest.

Planting an insectary garden beside your vegetable garden is a natural and effective way to rid your vegetable garden of harmful insects. With the right variety of plants, this garden spot will attract beneficial insects that will kill and eat the harmful ones that eat your vegetables. The insectary can be a separate garden or several small plantings interspersed among the vegetables.

With all of the knowledge you just learned about gardening, you want to start forming plans and implementing those plans to the best of your ability. When it comes to gardening, you have to go outside and get yourself dirty, while you try out the strategies you have formed, when you do that you’re going to see what does and doesn’t work and from there, you can form new strategies.

Grow A Lovely Organic Garden With These Tips was originally published on Spring